Zac Goldsmith vows to quit if Tories axe services at London hospital

Zac Goldsmith has vowed to immediately quit as an MP triggering a by-election if a Tory government axed key services at a London hospital.

The Tory candidate for Richmond Park and North Kingston also pledged to step down if David Cameron did a U-turn on blocking a third runway at Heathrow or on stopping parking charges in Richmond Park.

"There are various things I have said in this campaign with absolute certainty," he told a hustings held by Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

"I said there will be no Heathrow expansion under our Government, there will be no charges for parking in Richmond Park and Kingston Hospital will be safe.

"If any of those promises are broken I will trigger a by-election and allow people to penalise my party."

The millionaire ecologist made the startling promise as a shadow Cabinet minister told The Standard that the battle between Mr Goldsmith and Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer was now on a knife edge.

Senior Tories believe Mr Goldsmith had had a 60/40 chance of winning the key marginal seat in south west London but had seen his lead fall dramatically because of the row over his non-dom status.

Separately, a poll of 100 marginal seats in The Telegraph found the Tories would win 74 from Labour but none from the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Goldsmith stressed that he had made his promise in a bid to kill off Lib-Dem "deliberate misrepresentation" over alleged threats to services at Kingston hospital, particularly accident and emergency and the maternity unit, as well as Tory policy on Heathrow and Richmond Park.

He accepted that the contest for this key seat would "go down to the wire".

The Conservatives would carry out a review of hospitals in London before making any cuts.

The Lib-Dems claimed it was "likely" that a Tory adminstration would not honour all three pledges highlighted by Mr Goldsmith.

Ms Kramer said: "My opponent expected to win the seat comfortably and is finding it's not so easy.

"This is a desperate pledge from a very worried man."

Labour also seized on Mr Goldsmith's threat of resignation.

Stephen Pound, the party's candidate for Ealing North, said: "David Cameron must rue the day he brought Zac Goldsmith in to back up his attempts to give the Tories a green sheen."

Kingston hospital is turning into an election issue in the capital with the Conservative leader having visited it last weekend and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg due to do so in coming days.

While Tory hopes of ousting Mrs Kramer have receded they are understood to now be confident of winning two other nearby seats from the Liberal Democrats - Tom Brake in Carshalton and Wellington and Paul Burstow in Sutton and Cheam - though the Lib-Dems dispute they are falling back in these areas.

Kingston and Surbiton Lib Dem MP Ed Davey is seen as less vulnerable but the Tories believe they have a strong candidate in Helen Whately.